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Senior Russian MP does not rule out US-Turkey separate agreements on Syria

Vladimir Shamanov said that Russia forecasted "back half-a-year ago" that the final stage of the IS defeat would be accompanied by separate agreements

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. A senior Russian parliamentarian and former commander of the Airborne Troops, Vladimir Shamanov, does not rule out separate deals between the US and Turkey within the context of a military operation in Syria announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The final stage of the defeat of IS (Islamic State outlawed in Russia) units will be accompanied and is accompanied by separate agreements," Shamanov told reporters on Monday, adding that Russia "forecasted this back half-a-year ago".

"I don’t rule out such agreements given the specific importance of this region for Turkey in the Kurdish issue. It is not for the first time that Americans are surrendering their allies," he stated.

"We are closely monitoring the situation," the parliamentarian stressed. On December 12, the Turkish president said he was planning to launch within the next few days an operation on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and the Democratic Union Party which Ankara sees as the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Turkey has already carried two operations in Syria, Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch. As a result a security buffer zone was created between the frontier cities of Azaz and Jarablus and the Afrin region populated by Kurds was occupied.

According to Erdogan, US President Donald Trump’s reaction to a possible Turkish operation east of the Euphrates River [in Syria] was positive.

Tags

Syria United States Turkey

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